Albertina Museum

The apartment location is really convenient to the sights. It is a very small studio compared to what we have had so far. We mainly picked it because of its location. Carol is not happy with the overall cleanliness of the place. There are little noticeable things that if they corrected would make it a much nicer place to stay. We have had great luck in our choices and this is the first place that is not 100 per cent good in the clean department. We are making the best of it and oh did I mention that the location is great.
After breakfast, we decide that we will check out the Albertina Museum today. Our walk to the Albertina is about 15 minutes. The Albertina is a two fold museum.

Maria Christina

You get a palace for free as it was,the home of Empress Maria Theresa’s favorite daughter( Maria Christina) and her husband. She is the only daughter the Empress let pick her husband and marry for love. All the others were arranged for power and wealth reasons. One of Maria Christina’s sisters Marie Antoinette was forced to marry the French King and she did not have a good head on her shoulders. You figure it out!
The state rooms we walk through are very nice and photo friendly. They show more of the wealth of the family as they had drawings by Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Rubens, and other famous artists and sculptors in the rooms. Once through the state rooms, there is a very impressive set of galleries with works of art by Renoir, Matisse, Monet, Chagall, and Picasso.

A Masterpiece and a Picasso

The rooms are very well laid out and the paintings have good descriptions and stories with them. We both really enjoy this museum and its smaller scale, walkable non roped off state rooms, and well displayed art collection.
We walk from the Albertina to go have lunch. We had seen a brew pub yesterday, a little off the beaten path that intrigued us so we will try it now. The 1516 brew pub has outdoor seating perfect for a day like today. We are in the mid 70s temperature wise which is a perfect place to be. We order Scnitzel and a spaetzel dish with bacon, onions and cheese. They have their own amber ale so we get two of those. The choices here usually are light ( Helles) or dark ( dunkel). It is nice to be able to have something different. The food is good and so is the beer, in fact, we sit and share another one. After our nice SIT DOWN, a rarity for us, we head towards two churches I read about this morning, a Dominican one and a Jesuit one.the Dominican one is nice with some Royal double eagle crown decor. Remember the Hapsburgs were not just Emperors but Holy Roman Emperors. Leaders of the government and the church so,their influence is shown here.

Carol in Jesuit Church

The Jesuit church is interesting for its spiral granite columns which we have not really seen elsewhere. Two very nice stops. The last place we go is called the Dorotheum and is kind of a Sotheby’s type place. It is an auction house but they also have floors of buy it now stuff. This is an upscale place with fine art. We could have bought a Chagall or the Campbell’s Soup Can Andy Warhol, which was only 900 Euros. Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe was bargain priced at 11,860 Euros. For Auto buffs, there was a Shelby Cobra autographed on the glove box by Shelby for only 1,000,000 Euros. They said my credit card came back declined so I had to cancel the sale. We stroll and wander back home and later decide just to go out for a slice of pizza as we are not very hungry after our full lunch. We both like the days where we can just slow our pace and enjoy the ambience of where we are. Today was one of those days.
Expenses
Albertina Museum. 25.8E
Lunch and Beer at 1516 Brew Pub 32.7E
Pizza Slices for Dinner 6E
Heart of Vienna Studio 87E
Walked 7 Miles